Unending All the Time We Need
by booster-t
Summary: After 50 years together, a question posed by a very frustrated Cameron Mitchell gives Sam the hint she needs figure out how to get everyone back in time. Slightly AU.


**A/N** Among the **many** things that bothered me about _Unending_ (don't get me started) is the fact that the main characters don't age properly. By that I mean, they do not appear to be the age they should be. For example, we know Daniel is around 40 years old, perhaps a year or two older. That means he **should** have been around 90 when they reverse the time dilation field. As someone who has parents that are in their 90s, I can tell you he sure didn't look like someone that age. With the exception of Mitchell (and Teal'c), none of the characters look the age they should be (and NONE of them SOUND the way they should, but that's another story). This discrepancy _could_ be a deliberate decision by the writers (doubtful), or it could be explained (slightly AU) by a conversation, which would lead to Sam discovering how to turn back the clock.

* * *

Fifty years. They had been together for fifty years. They were closer than any four humans could ever be. After all that had happened, they loved each other more than any four people could ever love each other. And at the same time, they hated each other more than any four people could. For fifty years, they had lived together, eaten together, worked together, learned together, slept together (OK, not all of them), just _been_ together. As big as the _Odyssey_ was, fifty years was a long time to be cooped up. No fresh air. No grass beneath their feet. No sun in their eyes. No surf on their feet. No freedom from each other. No privacy. No space. Together. They had long since stopped counting the days. By mutual agreement, ship's time was based on a 24-hour clock, keeping their circadian rhythm tied to that of Earth. But it was artificial, like everything else about their life nowadays.

Cameron Mitchell stared into space. There was something oddly hypnotic about the Ori energy beam, frozen (more or less) to the naked eye. What should have taken a mere second or two would now take almost sixty years. Intellectually, Mitchell knew that the beam _was_ moving … only it was moving so slowly that its passage through space was not observable to the naked eye. Its movement was only noticeable after a prolonged period of time. _Time,_ he thought to himself. _That's all we have no is time … and each other._ Grabbing his meal, he slowly sat down at the table.

"When I said that I wanted to get the team back together, work with you guys, learn from you … I did not mean every waking moment for the next fifty years."

"You said that yesterday," Daniel replied.

"I did?"

"And the day before," added Teal'c.

"And the day before that," Vala commented.

"Sorry. I'll … just shut up now."

They all lapsed into silence. Quietly eating their meals, the same way they had for the past eighteen thousand or more days. Bored. Sullen. Tired. Defeated.

Cameron paused and looked around. _I feel every one of my 83 years._ Taking another mouthful of food, he regarded Teal'c with more than a bit of jealously. _Damn. One hundred and thirty years old and he doesn't look a day older than he did fifty years ago. Look at me. I'm old. I'm decrepit. Even Jackson looks better than me, and he's gotta be nearly ten years older than me. And Sam. She's about Jackson's age and she looks the same as he did twenty years ago. How can that be?_ Before he could control his mouth, the words tumbled out.

"Jackson. What the hell is your secret?"

"Huh?"

"Look at you. You gotta be nearly ten years older than me. Yet you look twenty years younger. What's your secret? Same with you, Sam. You look way better than me. You been turning time back and not telling me?"

Both Daniel and Sam stared at Mitchell. And then they looked at each other. And at Vala. And then at Mitchell. And then at each other again.

"You don't think …" Daniel began, before Sam cut him off.

"Daniel. We already had this conversation. That's impossible."

"Is it? Look at Vala? Why not?"

Vala looked at Mitchell and then at Sam and Daniel.

"I hate to be a wet blanket, but could one of you please tell me what the heck you're talking about. Mind reading was not one of the gifts the _Asgard_ gave us … at least, not that I'm aware."

Daniel began again.

"It has to do with the way the time dilation field is working. Mitchell. You read all the SG-1 reports when you joined the SGC, right?"

"Yeh … so what are you talking about?"

"Remember P3W-451?"

"Uhh, not sure … is that the one where SG-10 got trapped on the planet … they were too close to the event horizon of a black hole."

"Right. That's where Jack and what was his name … Cromwell … used a shaped charge to break the lock of the gate. The gravitational waves were threatening to tear Cheyenne Mountain apart. As it was, we were out of normal space-time for what, three months or so."

Sam suddenly paled. _Could it be so simple? _Vala interrupted her musing.

"Would someone mind explaining to me what P3W-whatever and event horizons have to do with us?"

Sam's response was every bit the theoretical astrophysicist she once was.

"In general relativity, an event horizon is a term for a boundary in space-time defined with respect to an observer, beyond which events cannot affect the observer. Light emitted from inside the horizon can never reach the observer, and anything that passes through the horizon from the observer's side is never seen again. A black hole is surrounded by an event horizon."

"So?"

Daniel continued.

"At the SGC, from our perspective, we could see SG-10 on P3W-451. But everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. Time was being slowed down — just like Sam's time dilation field keeps the Ori beam from hitting us. Eventually, it_ will_ impact the _Odyssey._ But we will all be long dead before that ever happens."

"Daniel!" Vala's voice was shrill. "I still don't get it."

Sam picked up where Daniel had left off.

"From the perspective of a stationary observer, an event horizon appears to be some distance away from any observer, and objects sent towards an event horizon never appear to cross it from the sending observer's point of view."

"Again. SO?"

Despite herself, Sam had a feeling of excitement that had long been missing. _Maybe there is something to Daniel's_ _arguments. You'd think by now I'd know not to dismiss those out-of-left-field intuitive leaps he makes._ For many moments, the four members of SG-1 stared at each other saying nothing. Suddenly, Teal'c's voice broke them out of their reverie.

"Colonel Carter. Do you remember one of the old movies that you and Colonel O'Neill gave me when I first came to the SGC? One of the movies involved a ship that was crewed by its captain and a number of robotic devices. The captain's intention was to enter a black hole."

Surprisingly, it was Vala who responded.

"Ooh. I remember that one. It was so impossible. The idea was to enter the back hole and come out the other side. The ship was called, let me think, the _Swan._ Silly name for a ship."

In spite himself, Daniel smiled.

"It was called the _Cygnus_, Vala — swan in latin. So you weren't far …"

"I know how to do it."

They all looked at the source of the interruption. It was Sam.

Daniel's voice was soft.

"Sam?"

"Daniel. I know how to do it. I know how to reverse time. We can go home. The time dilation field around the _Odyssey_ may not be uniform. That's what Daniel suggested many years ago." Turning to Mitchell, Sam continued. "Cameron, you've always chosen to reside in quarters that are near the bridge of the ship. Daniel, Vala and I are closer to the core of the _Odyssey …_ where the time dilation field begins. In a sense, we have had our own mini event horizon within the _Odyssey _and we have aged at different rates. And if the field is _not_ uniform, I can turn it on itself. Sort of like collapsing a cone."

"Just like that?"

"Well, not quite." Sam smiled, the first real smile in how many years she did not know. "It'll take me some time to figure out the details. But I know how. And we have all the time we need."

--END--


End file.
